A FORMER chairman of Sagbama Local Government, Bayelsa State, Perez Peretu, was almost lynched on Wednesday by angry youths in the council.
He was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl identified as his wife’s younger sister.
But police authority said he only tried to rape the girl.
Peretu was eventually taken away by policemen but this did not stop the angry youths from booing him.
While the Bayelsa State Police Command spokesperson, Mr.Alex Akhigbe, insisted that though the allegation of attempted rape was admitted by the victim against the former Local Government boss, the angry youths insisted that it was a case of rape and called for an independent investigation into the incident.
The angry youths claimed that the suspect was allegedly caught pants down in his home having canal knowledge of the girl.
While many of his loyalists claim the alleged rape charge against him was political and an attempt by some persons in his country home to rubbish his achievements in office, others insisted that the charge of rape was true and accused the police of trying to subvert justice after alleged financial inducement.
The suspect was reportedly apprehended and taken to the Sagbama Police station for interrogation and detained.
The angry youths followed him to the station and booed him.
However, Akhigbe said nobody has come forward to report the alleged rape officially.
He said: “The victim denied any canal knowledge of her by the former chairman but said he attempted to rape her. Although attempted rape is a crime, up till now, there is no official report against him”.
